Counting on the right number: Maternal support for the development of cardinality

Abstract

Abstract Children appear to learn the meaning of small number words quite early and independently of verbal counting, but several months elapse between leaming to count sets of objects and understanding cardinality, i.e., that the last word corresponds to the size of the set. Research has focussed on changes within the individual, neglecting the fact that number is an aspect of culture encountered by children during their interactions with caregivers. This exploratory study is concerned with support for the development of cardinality provided by mothers' use of language during joint counting activities. Thirteen mothers and their 2–3 year olds were filmed in a seminaturalistic situation. As expected, the children showed no evidence of understanding cardinality, yet mothers introduced the language of cardinality, providing opportunities for leaming that countingis an appropriate response to how many as well as to count. Children responded to both terms by counting but appeared not to regard them as synonymous. The emphasis which many children gave to the last word of counts indicated that this was already becoming distinguished from the sequence asa whole. Examination of maternal responses to counts revealed several ways in which mothers paved the way for the development of cardinality, despite (or because of) appearing to assume that children already understood it.